Gary, it's difficult to work out exactly what happened in this sort of event from a few typed lines, so we're not jumping on you personally (maybe ) so we can't necessarily tell if he started his overtake before you started accelerating etc. You must admit though that at a certain point in an overtaking manouver you must decide if it's quicker to try to dive in in front or stamp on the brakes and slot in behind the car you were trying to overtake. You may also have a very limited time to make this decision, this is the period when you are commited to the overtake. Like it or not EVERY overtake includes this element.

BTW If it took him 15 seconds it can't have been much of a bike or he mustn't have been trying very hard.

 

A friend of mine has a 355, and we were having a play on a country road, with me following in my scoob.

This country road was wide enough for two cars, just.

Whenever we met another car, the other car would pull right over to the gutter to allow my friends 355 past. I was following very close behind, but the car that had just pulled over would then move back to the middle of the road, usually when I was along side. I would then toot my horn to say 'hello I am here next to you'. Then they'd get irate. This happened on about 6 overtaking manoeuvres in 20 minutes.

Tossers

In my time travelling in Asia, it is accepted that a toot of the horn is just an 'I am here' warning. Why are people in the UK so hung up about the use of it?

 

Gary, if you let him past with 50 yards to a blind corner, what were you going to do if someone came around that corner? At even 50mph the time taken to cover 50 yards is miniscule so combining your speed (guess 70) with a car coming the other way at 50 means that the distance between the motorbike and this car would be decresing at 120mph, at which point the only outcome is a large accident. I know of someone who hit a deer at an estimated speed of 120, bits of dear were scattered over 1 mile of road, with both car passengers being wiped out.
ESP is not required but a bit of common sense does not go amiss, I am all in favour of driving quickly, but not in a situation where it puts either yourself or others in danger. If it means altering the way you normally drive in order to prevent an accident or the probability of an accident from happenning then surely it is not a large price to pay.

 

I hit a sheep at 115mph once (in my boy racing days) It scared the hell out of me. I was going so fast that i thought it was a child and literally shat myself. Approx 5 cars behind were covered in blood, and the sheep had completly gone (exploded), which pi$$ed me of cos a wanted to make a claim off the farmer. Anyway, it slowed me down alot and completly redesigned my front end.

 

Harry

I'm assuming the guy didn't realise I was accelerating or pulled out at exactly the moment I put my foot down (ie at the de-restricted sign, which sounds likely). Or maybe he realised I was accelerating but thought he'd get passed before the bend anyway.

Thing is the situation probably looked different for him than me,

Me - Driving along, go into de-restricted zone, put foot down, notice bike that was behind me indicate and pull out, watch him edge along the car, look at corner, look at him, realise corner is getting pretty close and he's not overtaking very fast so slow down.

Him - behind a dawdling car sticking to the speed limit, waiting for de-restricted sign to quickly zip passed him, indicate and pull out, bstard in car puts his foot down to stop me overtaking, what a git just cause he doesn't want to be overtaken etc etc

I think this is always what happens, the guy coming off the corner (Always a BMW driver according to you guys) puts his foot down before you start to overtake as he wants to drive fast, then you start to overtake him and think he's accelerating to stop you getting past.

Gary

(Ps it was an ickle ZZR 600, but I assume he didn't bother knocking it down a gear - I assumed he'd get passed me with ease to be honest)

 

Robertio

Uhh now you might be quite correct there, I said 50 metres and now I'm trying to work out how far that is, it seemed like enough but it may we'll not have been. It's hardly an easy call.

I'm not saying I'm in the right, as being in the right I would have been doing 50 Mph but IMO the vast majority of the blame is attributable to the guy making the manouvre.

I also attempt to overtake people mistakenly thinking I can make it, I however am not embarrased to pull back in if I've misjudged, I don't rely on the other guy getting me out of the situation.

(I agree there is a certain point where it's difficult to know whether to continue or cancel the overtake).

Gary

 

My little h'penny worth...

On my drive home from work, there was a section that went through a village (30) into a long stright, then to open road (60) for about a mile before a blind bridge sumit. I always stuck to the 30 limit in the village and would wait until I passed the unristricted sign before htting the throttle. There would be plenty of drivers behine me who would start to pass the moment they reached the 60 zone (many of them even before) in an effort to get past this 'slow' driver. If I was accelerating at this point I would always hold off and let them pass, then contunue to speed up again once they were ahead. They invairailably then drove at 50 mph with me now behind.

I never go frustrated at this, but I always try to make sure that if the other driver starts his manoeuvre I let him get on with it. It's just not worth the hassle of contesting it, even if I could quite easily out accelerate him side by side. It Discourteous if you ask me, if nothing worse...

 

I'm sure there are times when someone being overtaken is also legitimately accelerating, which is one thing. But in the first post, the BM driver deliberately accelerated to prevent overtaking - as was proved by the fact he slowed right down after the overtaking was aborted. A totally different reason, but with the same results. Either way, it is always up to the driver of the overtaking car to get back to the correct side of the road - even if the other car is deliberately trying to stop an overtake.

Jerome.

 

Gary, you're right, a ZZR600 is quick enough in a straight line, he should've had no diffs. He obviously wasn't trying, maybe he was a new biker and was kacking his leathers at the perceived speed